"Alright," Yushin said.

I blinked and stared at her.

"Alright? That's all you have to say?"

"I already knew I might be killing the rest of your family," Yushin said with a shrug. "I do not see how this is different. I already merge and mingle my bloodline and affinity magic into more effective spells. This is somewhat similar, but not enough to be worth pursuing. I have not crippled my bloodline as you have, and should I ever be free enough from my family to pursue life enforcement, that will already combine with my bloodline near perfectly."

"I dinnae 'bout all tha'," Salem said. "But I mean… It's not exactly shockin'. 'Ve been practicin' with my psychic affinity an' attemptin' to deconstruct an' reconstruct the knots tha' make up psychic abilities. Really stuffed up them, but a' kinda had to."

A thoughtful look came over his face as he fiddled with one of the snake bite piercings in his lip.

"Maybe there's some way for me ta' fuse my thread inta mah ether pool as well. Psychic affinities aren't as rare as specific beast affinities, an' they're…"

He stopped talking, trailing off into space as he considered, then he started rapidly drumming his fingers on the table. When he finally spoke, it was in a rush that was so slurred that I couldn't actually understand what he was saying.

"T'e'ot's'a'ke'u'ma–"

"Slow down!" Jackson said. "You'll choke on your soup!"

"The knots 'at make up most psychic magic are usually passive. Like rituals. Ya' weave the thread inta' power, then can flow spare thread through 'em ta' create active effects. Like m' dreamwardin'. It normally just allows me to passively protect my dreams, an' when I flow thread through it, I can enter the dreams a' those I've got a connection wit'."

"Like a ritual that can be supercharged with ether?" Yushin asked.

"Like the mental defense ritual," I said at nearly the same time. Salem nodded to both of us, then continued.

"My psychic affinity lets me emulate the active effects, an' las' year I mainly focused on the passive effects, as well as unknotting my poor choices. But what if I could construct knots inside my ether pool with my affinity? Can I see the spells tha' the book held?"

"You're more than welcome to take a look, I was already producing some copies, but most of the spellforms are from either the Age of Pools or Sunder," I warned. "They might not work any more. They're also designed to interface a bloodline and ether pool, not psionic threads and an ether pool."

"Course," Salem said flippantly. "But it's inspiration. Ya' canne construct a bridge without lookin' at someone else whose built one, even if ya' don' copy the design."

"I would also like to look," Yushin agreed. "I do not plan to attempt to merge the pools, as previously stated, but it may assist me in improving the robustness of my channels."

I glanced at Jackson as I passed copies of the book over to Yushin and Salem, but he just shook his head.

"No need for me to. If I ever ascend to become an angelus, I'll have a perfectly suited and compatible bloodline anyhow. And I don't plan on seeking out any of the alchemical concoctions that give you one, nor learning the spell to steal it."

"Fair enough," I agreed, letting out a slow sigh, then shaking my head. "But… You all really aren't concerned about the potential rise of a new Dreki leader?"

"It was going to happen one way or the other," Yushin said. "This information helps us remain in the loop, and explains some things, but none of it is especially shaking."

"I'll stand with you if your family tries to do something heinous," Jackson said. "I would rather see you own an ancient artifact like that than your family."

"Fae already interweave bloodline magic an' songcallin' a lot, as well as some psionics an' some wizardry. This migh' be a new method, but it's workin' off an age-old concept. I'm more disappointed in the books it gave, ta' be honest," Salem said. "It dinnae give ya' a single usable spell. Jus' some theories on ways ta' improve yourself that require a whole bunch'a questin' and work."

"That's true," Jackson said with a frown. "I wonder if it will perhaps improve your next few delves. Not a direct reward, but more of a passive boon."

"Could be," I said with a shrug. "Either way, sorry I got so derailed. What were you all doing with the last weekend before summer courses start?"

"Look at this!" Jackson said, pushing a page over to me. "We were discussing it!"

"They were discussing it," Yushin said derisively. "I do not have time for such frivolous courses."

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I picked up the paper, only to realize that it was the syllabus for our theatre course. Skimming over it, it had been structured in a really unusual way – the first half of the course, in the month leading up to the summer solstice, was entirely practical. We'd be building up to a play that would be performed during the solstice, and then spend the second half of the course focusing on the history of magical theatre.

"Did'ya see wha' play we're puttin' on?" Salem asked. I flicked my eyes back, then spotted it and let out a groan.

"Oh by the gods. Well, I guess I know what I'm going to be cast as."

Yushin blinked, then turned. Despite her talk about not being interested in taking theatre, it seemed the lull of good gossip was entirely too much for her.

"Silver and Flame," Jackson said. Yushin just kept staring at him, clearly waiting for more, so I jumped in to explain. I'd seen a handful of performances of the play, though they'd just been small hamlets putting the story on for fun.

"It's a classic story from the Argentflame Empire. It's pretty much a classical faerie tale. A dragon arrives in the empire in human form, pretending to be a prince from another nation and getting invited to a ball. He courts the princess for a few months, and when he eventually reveals his true form to her, she finds him hideous. He transforms and tears the roof off, then flies off with her to his castle."

Yushin rolled her eyes, but Jackson launched into his description of the second act.

"Then it's all about different people trying to kill the dragon. It's got several big fights as the evil dragon kills a truesilver destiny marked knight, a mage and their contracted demons hoping to kidnap the princess for his own, and an archdruid! It's super fun. Eventually, a brave farmer boy manages to trick the dragon into drinking ale that had been laced with faerie sleeping magic, and stabs its eye out, then marries the princess and becomes prince."

"That is incredibly stupid," Yushin said. "If the dragon was that powerful, why would he not take over as emperor? Furthermore, the princess seems incredibly stupid and vain to only be reviled when her suitor reveals his true nature."

"It's also kind of racist?" I said. "Like, there's no way I'd ever do anything of the sort."

"I dunno," Salem said, a mischievous smile dancing in his eyes. "I seem to remember ya' grabbin' me, sweepin' me off my feet, and tearin' through the Library."

I flushed red and spluttered.

"That was different!"

Jackson let out a bellowing laugh loud enough that a few other tables turned and looked at us, and I grew even redder.

"You're too pale, and way too easy to read, Emrys. You too, Salem," Jackson wheezed. "You turn into a tomato when you're embarrassed. At least if you have a tan on you, you'd be a bit less hard to read."

Yushin's eyes sliced over to Jackson, and she arched a delicate black eyebrow.

"I suppose you don't ever get embarrassed, then?"

"I have nothing to be embarrassed about!" Jackson said, smiling proudly. "I've made poor choices, certainly, but I owned my actions, learned from them, and moved on. Not that what you did was a bad choice, Emrys. But you should own up to it! You saved Salem. Good for you!"

To my surprise, it was actually Yushin who blushed slightly at his words, and she looked back down at the sheaf of papers that I'd handed to her.

"Aye, an' with tha' attitude, you're gonna be the handsome young farmer," Salem chuckled. "I guarantee it."

"Gods, he will, won't he?" I asked, holding back laughter. "He's already filling the role."

"No shot at all," Jackson said. "I'm not charming enough to be him. Also, my goatee makes me look too old! The farmer's supposed to be eighteen. And sure, I'm only twenty, but he's supposed to be fresh faced and dewy."

"You have the musculature to be a member of a farming village, however," Yushin added from where she was looking at her book. "And you have the attitude down. You would make a fine hero."

"See, even Yushin agrees," I said, pointing at her, then at him. "I would bet ten silver on it."

"Fifty silver," Salem said, chuckling. "It's a guarantee."

"I'll match you both," Jackson said, crossing his arms. "I might, maybe, possibly get the knight if I got anyone. But I'll probably just be an extra."

"Fifty silver," Yushin muttered. "No sense in losing money."

Jackson seemed to hesitate at that, eyes flicking around, and then he nodded.

"No, I'm certain. I couldn't be cast as the hero. I'll take the deal."

"Prepare tah' lose," Salem cackled. "I can even feel 'e's startin to doubt. An' I havenae even unwound enough'a my dream protections tah form the empath knot yet!"

"Isn't that a foundational knot for pretty much all psychic magic?" Jackson asked, clearly desperate to pick a new line of conversation. "It's hard to target others without being able to sense them right? Right?"

"Sure, but like I said, I messed up. When I was a wee one, I constan'ly had nightmares – was the aberrant tain', rearin' its head early. Since we dinnae know where it came from, I had to keep formin' more and more dreamward knots, but it kept breakin through."

He tapped the studs in his ears and lip.

"Now 'at I've got the seal, I dinnae need six dreamward knots. 'Specially since 've got a couple of mental defense rituals under my belt now – dreamward spell an' the rite o' centered mind."

I'd been about to pull the conversation back to embarrassing Jackson for being unable to see himself as the archetypical storybook hero, but this actually sounded interesting.

"I don't know much about psychics, but six sounds like a lot."

"Aye. Elder Moira, who made my seals, 'as twenty-one knots formed. Most consider thirty-three to be the absolute limit. 'Ve only got twelve. Six mindwardin', three psychometry which is how 've got some retrocognition, an three free for replenishin' my thread."

He said three like tree again, and I had to hide a smile. Yushin looked up from where she had been working through the journal, blinking rapidly.

"Half of your psychic power is dedicated to preventing your dreams from being invaded? I owe you an apology – I was under the impression you were simply a poor psychic, and incompetent with your psychic affinity, but did not wish to say anything, as Emrys was clearly affectionate towards you. But you said you were unweaving it. Rebuilding half of your power is no minor feat. My uncle, Shé Rui, was once forced to rebuild his cultivation after suffering a…"

"Heart demon. Or emotional deviation, depending on how you want to translate it," I filled in when Yushin was forced to say the words in Hua-Long.

"Yes. It took him years to redo. So I apologize."

Salem looked a bit taken aback by the frankness of the apology, and I felt much the same – I'd wondered if his inability to alter the minds of our opponents was linked to the Loup Garou, I hadn't realized just how dramatic it was.

"Thank ya," Salem said, shifting awkwardly. "Anyway… Should we go back'ta teasin' Jackson?"

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